- Category
- War in Ukraine
Ukrainian Strike Cripples Russian Orion Drone Operations in Crimea
Prefer U24 Media on Google
- Authors
![Photo of Roman Kohanets]( "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
-111f0e5095e02c02446ffed57bfb0ab1.jpeg "Photo of Roman Kohanets")
On September 17 and overnight into September 18, Ukrainian forces disabled a Russian ground control station for Orion drones at the Saky airfield in temporarily occupied Crimea.
On September 18, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported the strike near the settlement of Novofedorivka, framing it as one of several strikes on Russian military targets.
We bring you stories from the ground. Your support keeps our team in the field.
"Operations against key enemy military targets are ongoing," the General Staff stated.
The General Staff also confirmed additional hits across the front:
a site used for the storage, preparation, and launch of attack drones near Donetsk;
an ammunition depot near Dovzhansk in the Luhansk region;
a logistics and materiel depot of the occupying forces near Kypuche in the Luhansk region.
The Orion, also designated Inokhodets, is a Russian long-endurance drone built for medium-altitude reconnaissance and strike missions.
It can stay airborne for up to 24 hours, conduct electro-optical reconnaissance, provide target designation at altitudes up to 7.5 kilometers, and carry guided missiles and bombs weighing 200 to 250 kilograms.
Destroying the ground control station significantly limits Russia's ability to operate the drones across that operational sector, the General Staff noted.
The strike extends a run of Ukrainian attacks on the same rear areas in temporarily occupied Crimea.
On August 22, Ukrainian forces destroyed a Su-24M combat aircraft and four pieces of equipment at the Saky airfield, alongside drone-control relay stations in the Bryansk region.
Earlier in the month, an antenna used to control Orion drones and two S-400 launchers were knocked out on the same peninsula in a strike carried out by Magura naval platforms carrying FPV drones. Estimated Russian losses from that operation reached the tens of millions of dollars.
Discuss this article:
-ca301aaac45bd8b16406c401e7f93e94.jpg "As Russia Heads Into Parliamentary Elections, Meet the Foreign “Observers” Giving Them a Potemkin Veneer of Legitimacy")
-41be7dcf0978ceee1b4e82016b789765.jpg "Russian citizens drafted during the partial mobilization are seen being dispatched to combat coordination areas after a military call-up for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Moscow, Russia. (Source: Getty Images)")
-72b63a4e0c8c475ad81fe3eed3f63729.jpeg "Photo of Cyril Barabaltchouk")